Donald Trump has addressed the perception that his speeches have become less focused, darker, more rambling, and generally less in the moment. He's called his freewheeling style "the weave," saying it's an intentional and "brilliant" way to communicate. A computer analysis has put numbers to the changes, Peter Baker writes in the New York Times. Some rhetorical habits have been there but show up more frequently now, others may or may not be signs of aging, experts say. "He's not competing at the level he was competing at eight years ago, no question about it," said Anthony Scaramucci, a former ally who now supports Vice President Kamala Harris for president. "He's lost an ability to put powerful sentences together," Scaramucci added.
The differences in Trump speech the computer analysis found include:
- Length: Speeches at rallies now average 82 minutes long. In 2016, they averaged 45 minutes.
- Absolute terms: He uses terms like "always" and "never" 13% more often than he did in 2016. Some experts consider that an indication of advancing age.
- Negativity: He used 21% more negative than positive words eight years ago; he now uses 32% more. Such an increase also can be a sign of cognitive change.
- Profanity: Swear words appear in his speech 69% more often than they did in 2016. A study by Stat, a health care news outlet, also found as much. That trend can reflect disinhibition, which the National Institutes of Health says concerns the ability to "control one's behavior."
There's also been confusion, which can afflict anyone but has been especially baffling recently. A week after his debate against Harris, Trump talked about the studio audience supporting him and going "crazy" at times in its fervor, per Mediaite. But there was no studio audience. He said last week that "most people don't have any idea what the hell a phone app is," though 96% of Americans have a smartphone, Baker points out. Trump has said the Panama Canal was built "a little while ago" and asked supporters if they remember when Charles Lindbergh landed in New York. Lindbergh was going the other way on his historic flight; he landed in Paris in 1927. After being in Georgia, the former president cheered "a great day in Louisiana."
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The Times analysis found Trump speaks at a fourth-grade level. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, by comparison, speaks at an eighth-grade level—that's about average for presidents of this era. A study by University of Montana scholars in 2022 showed that Trump's speech complexity was significantly lower than that of the average president over the nation's history, as was President Biden's. Trump says he has no issues, per the Times: "I go for two hours without teleprompters, and if I say one word slightly out, they say, 'He's cognitively impaired.'" (More Donald Trump 2024 stories.)
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